Titan Sound
by Polinomics
Summary: Robin never knew how to ask Starfire. They were so close, but that final step had evaded them. Who would be the first? Him or Her? Questions had to be answered, summaries had to be written.


**Chapter 1 Standing Next To Me**

Dick stared out across the sea that surrounded the T Tower, the moon admiring its shining face in the rippling waves. The stars were out tonight and they shone as bright as he could remember. That was his favourite part of being in Jump City; you could actually see the beautiful details of the sky. There were no stars in Gotham, just shit, shit, shit and oh, more shit. He felt free in Jump, away from the gaze of Batman, the disappointment, he had no one to live up to here, he was his own man and no one could take that away from him. He raised the glass he had in his right hand to his lips and grimaced at the smell of the substance he was drinking. Whiskey. It made him shudder, one of those peculiar things that smelt far worse than it tasted. The other Titans didn't even know there was any alcohol in the Tower, but he had his own little stash. He didn't drink to excess, just a wee drink here and there, mainly when he couldn't get to sleep. Insomnia was his worst enemy, it was as if he excited for something that didn't exist. He had never properly experienced insomnia, only nights here and there when he just for love nor money could not bring himself to drift off. He felt excited, not the right kind of excitement, not that excitement a young child feels the night before Christmas, the kind of excitement when there's nothing to be excited about. It bred a feeling of great unhappiness within the young man as it drew to his attention the lack of happiness in his life. Whiskey was the escape. It gave him that little push, to just close his eyes, and lose himself. He looked up at the clock on the wall, 2:00.

"Best be getting to bed" he muttered to himself as he downed the remainder of his glass. He gritted his teeth as the intense taste of the alcohol surged through his body, instinctively pulling a face that reeked of anguish. A footstep echoed behind him. Robin turned to inquire why the author of said footstep was up at this hour, but was left dumbstruck when he was met with the confused face of Starfire.

"Hey Star, what are you doing awake at this time?"

"I was going to ask the same of you Robin, I am having difficulty sleeping"

"Oh…right, yeah, me too, I was just about to go to bed, but I'm happy to stay up with you if you need company"

"Oh, that would be most kind of you, but I am afraid I would be inconveniencing you"

"Nonsense, I would just lie in bed for another hour not doing anything anyway, I might as well stay up with you" This wasn't entirely true, Robin rarely had trouble getting to sleep after his glass of whiskey. But this was Starfire, and he didn't get many chances to be alone with her, this being one of those few opportunities. There was a silence as both of them stood looking at one another, unsure of who should do what. Robin decided to take the initiative.

"Soooooo…er…yeah…you wanna…watch a movie?" You could cut the awkwardness with a knife. Robin could swear he heard here blink once or twice. Those inquisitive eyes of hers, so deep you could lose yourself in them.

"Yes, I would like that very much, which would you prefer? The movie of laughs, the movie of explosions, the movie of the kissing, there is such a wide choice"

"Uh, yeah, erm, why don't we just watch a comedy then, maybe get ourselves some hot milk as well, you go pick a film you'd like and I'll heat some milk for us". Robin turned from her and moved toward the kitchen. He gave himself a mental pat on the back for diffusing what could have become a memorably awkward situation. Having left his empty glass on the draining board, he opened the fridge and scanned the contents. There was a carton of milk which seemed to hold just enough for at most two mugs. After checking the sell-by-date, you could never be too sure how long something had been festering in the T Tower fridge, he poured it out into two mugs and then decanted both of them into a saucepan on the cooker. He kept the heat low as to ensure that the milk took as long as possible to heat up, just so he could spend a little more time with Starfire even it be for only a few seconds more. He heard a delighted squeal come from behind him that could've only been emitted by Starfire and turned to inquire the reason behind it. Starfire's face was contorted into a grin of almost impossible proportion. In her right hand she held a DVD with the words 'Blazing Saddles' emblazoned upon it.

"It is the Saddles that are Blazing, can we watch this please Robin? I find it most hilarious and the scene in which the men emit gas while eating food of the beaned variety is most amusing" Robin was unaware that they even had it let alone the fact that Starfire had seen it.

"Sure, I haven't watched it in a while; I remember it being pretty funny" He turned to inspect how the milk was coming along as Starfire floated over to massive screen at the end of the room. Having ensured that it hadn't overcooked yet, Robin turned to see Starfire sitting on the counter behind him, inspecting him curiously. He jumped back shocked, narrowly missing the pan which held the steadily heating up milk. He stared up at her, looking into those green eyes of her, they asked questions of him, questions he was unsure as to whether he could answer or not.

"Robin?" She was so beautiful, he couldn't bring himself to look away from her to inspect the milk again, she was so alluring, it was as if she knew him better than anyone else. "Robin?" He could kiss her, she was so close he could smell her, she smelt and looked beautiful? This girl had it all. "Robin, are you there?"

"Oh Starfire, you…startled me is all"

"I am sorry Robin, I was wondering, how do you keep your hair to stand so tall? It never falls, it confuses me." Starfire never failed to amaze him. She was always full of questions, questions that no one expected, she noticed things that had lost their novelty to everyone else.

"My hair? Oh I just use gel, or spray, depends on the weather really" He preferred using spray in all honesty but he wasn't going to tell Beast Boy or Cyborg that, it was a bit too 'Glam Rock', he wasn't sure how they would see it.

"Where may I procure some of this wondrous 'gel' or 'spray'?"

"Oh, in any supermarkets or pharmacists I guess, I buy in bulk cos its cheaper, you could borrow some of mine if you want, but…I don't think hair spray's the thing for you"

"Why is this?"

"Well, your hair, it's…it's…" He was struggling, gradually feeling more and more nervous.

"You do not like my hair? What is wrong with it? Is it the colour?" she asked sounding hurt. Robin couldn't believe he got himself into these predicaments.

"No, no, no, it's not that Starfire it's that…your hair is…" She moved her face closer to his.

"My hair is what, Robin?"

"Well, your hair is already…really…b-beautiful, it would be a shame I guess to ruin it with chemicals" He couldn't quite believe he had just said that. It wasn't like him to be entirely honest with people but he had just gone and done it. Starfire blushed profusely, stroking her long chestnut hair as she giggled.

"Oh…I did not know you liked it, thank you"

"Hehe, don't mention it!" he replied rubbing the back of his head embarrassed. The milk. He remembered just in time. He quickly turned the heat off and poured the milk through a sieve, to catch the skin, into both cups. He turned back to where Starfire had been to find that she was now sat on the sofa, looking over at him expectantly. He strode toward her, a mug in each hand, and handed her the larger of the two mugs, he was a gentleman after all. Robin jumped over the edge of the couch and landed neatly beside Starfire, managing to not spill any of his milk on her or the couch. He looked at her in expectation.

"Are we going to watch the movie?"

"I have decided against it, I am too tired to watch a film and yet too tired to go to sleep, my body is not doing the making up of its mind" He loved the way she manipulated the English language. It gave the appearance of a very vulnerable, naïve girl who was just waiting for a knight in shining armour to save her. Starfire could not be further from that, while yes, she was naïve of many Earth customs, she caught on very quickly and was anything but vulnerable, those starbolts didn't half smart.

"Err, right, okay, sooo what ARE we gonna do to pass the time?" Robin wasn't that upset about not seeing the film. It was one of those films that you had to see all the way through, otherwise you were left with a hint of regret at the back of your mind, which he was sure wouldn't assist him in his goal of getting to sleep.

"I am unsure, on Tamaran I would go flying when I could not sleep, but I do not believe you would enjoy that Robin" He WOULD like to go flying, but then again, he couldn't really be bothered, another time perhaps. Robin's mind raced, he couldn't let this opportunity be close to Starfire pass, he had to think of something to occupy them, the situation was rapidly become more and more awkward. There was a pack of cards on the table from when Beast Boy had attempted to rid himself of boredom earlier in the day by playing solitaire, not that he actually knew the rules. An idea came bouncing into Robin's mind.

"Ahhhh, I know what we could do, have you ever played a game called 'Bullshit'?"

"That is the shit of bulls!" Starfire screamed eagerly. She had taken to the game with the gusto of a small child.

"Wrong again Star" However enthusiastic Starfire may have been for the game of bullshit, or cheat, or whatever you want to call it, she was easier to read than a British red-top tabloid. Every time Robin put on his 'faux-cheating' face, she would accuse him of cheating, she had slowly massed about three quarters of the deck in only a few rounds.

"Oh, you are far more adept at this game of the shit of bulls" She was right there, but then again, he had been playing this game for a while and this was the first time she had ever played it. Plus, lying wasn't in Starfire's nature. The tingling sensation of his bladder requesting draining worked its way through his thighs.

"I'm just gonna go to the bathroom for a sec' Star, be right back". Getting up from the couch he sauntered toward the doorway leading to the communal bathroom. The Titans each had a personal bathroom connected directly to their room but for the sake of convenience Cyborg had installed one directly connected to the common room for use by anyone. Robin opened the door to toilet, it was one of the few doors in the house that was opened by the classic mechanism rather than a key code, it was for sake of comfort, the key code doors were known to go wrong every so often. Peeing in Robin's world was a time for deep thought, he made some of his greatest deductions while on or frequenting the shitter. If he had reached a dead end in a case he would simply move himself to the toilet, and become lost in thought. However, the only thing he could think of now was Starfire, how their relationship had developed from when they had first met, how they could take it further, the only way was up, ugh, clichés. The problem was that he didn't know how to take it further, who was gonna make the move, they had been teetering on the edge of having a fully-fledged relationship for a long time now and he was beginning to lose faith in his ability, passed down from Bruce of course, to pull women. The problem was that Starfire wasn't just any old girl, she actually had an emotional pull on him, he hoped they would become something one day, something more than JUST friends. He pushed the button on the top of the toilet activating the flush mechanism and washed his hands. Bruce had made sure that his manners were impeccable, it wouldn't do for the adopted son of a billionaire to be making any faux pas. He dried his hands and left the bathroom. Upon re-entering the common room his eyes fell upon the now asleep form of Starfire, sprawled upon the sofa. Robin laughed quietly to himself as he picked the Tamaranian girl up, making sure to not wake her up in the process, and took her to her bedroom. He punched in the code on the front of the door, Robin was the only one of the Titans who knew the code for each door, not that they knew this, Cyborg knew everyone's but his, he had guaranteed the safety of his code long ago. He laid her on the bed in the manner she preferred to sleep, foot on the pillow, head hanging off the edge, she looked even more adorable asleep. Robin quietly snuck out of the room and began the long walk to his lonely abode. As much as he may try, Robin wasn't quite Batman, he wasn't as good at being a loner, he didn't take to it naturally, it was too forced for him to succeed on his own.

"Ahh well, Batman doesn't have Starfire, suuuuuuuuuuuuucks to be him".


End file.
